SEO copywriting sounds incredibly complicated. Search Engine Optimization? What are you some kind of futuristic algorithm wizard? Copywriting? I ain't no journalist! And I certainly ain't no futuristic algorithm journalist wizard! Just like everything else in marketing, SEO copywriting is WAY easier than it sounds. Hang with me through these 5 steps, and Google shall be yours. Oh yes. It shall be yours! SEO Copywriting Step 1: Place Your Keyword in Your Title Not to put too much pressure on you out of the gate, but your content lives and dies on the title. You never have a second chance to make a first impression. If you make a bad one with an awful title, it won't be long before you quit blogging in frustration, or make everyone wish you would. Bad titles are easy to spot. They're vague, esoteric, non-descriptive, and basically give you zero idea as to what the article is about. Now that anyone can blog on LinkedIn, the internet is awash in bad ...
Location, Location, Location – Why the Oil Industry Can’t Ignore SEO
There is an old saying that doesn't appear to apply to the oil industry at first glance. The saying goes, “The three most important considerations in real estate are location, location, location." That is to say, location determines the value of your property. You could say the exact same thing about every piece of content anyone in the oil industry publishes online. Email Marketing OG, DJ Waldow recently published a blog called Stop Doing These 5 Things (on your blog) NOW! It’s a great post that offers a handful of best practices to optimize your content. But there is one thing I would add to the list and move directly to the top. STOP ignoring Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because: It’s pretty hard to build an audience when your audience can’t find you. (tweet this) Location, Location, Location, and Retail Anyone looking for retail space must ask a number of questions to ensure their success. Entrepreneur.com has a great article on How to Find the Best ...
IHS Cera Competition: 4 Ways to Monitor, Annoy & Beat Them
IHS Cera must have felt a lot like Rockwell when I was at Drillinginfo. Lest you forget, Rockwell captivated the world in the mid-80's with his paranoid fear, electro synths, and a back-up vocal from Michael Jackson. (click here if you can't see the video) IHS Cera is considered Drillinginfo's top competitor, though I think that's a misnomer. Between the products Drillinginfo is releasing and the ones on their roadmap no one is really competing with them anymore. They are redefining the industry. And they're not even paying me to say that. Nevertheless, the reality on the ground and perception in the industry said that's who I was up against. Therefore, I did my duty - ruthlessly and without regard for the people or careers I set out to destroy. OK, I'm not really a cold-blooded killer. I'm not some kind of creepy Sochi Olympics official either. But I am a serious competitor who loves to win. And I had quite a quite a few ways to keep tabs on them. Don't worry ...
Digital Oil Refinery: 5 Steps to Writing Blogs People AND Google Love
The process of creating an amazing blog post is a lot like an oil refinery. You start with raw ideas that have plenty of intrinsic value. But it's not until you refine those ideas that they obtain true value in the marketplace of ideas. I recently published a post about the ongoing debate among marketers that asks if you should focus on quality/passionate content OR search engine optimization (SEO). It was a decent piece of abstract reasoning defending my position that you need both. But it didn't offer you any practical advice on how to create content both people AND search engines love. I'm going to fix that problem today. The Human in the Machine ... Get It? Don't worry, this section will do more than reference obscure and very bad early '90s horror movies. Heidi Cohen is known as the "Actionable Marketing Guide." If you subscribe to her blog, you know the title is spot on. She recently published a piece asking leading marketers to define "content quality." Scott ...
Yoast SEO: Why the SEO vs. Quality Debate can Kill Your Google Ranking
Yoast SEO, or WordPress SEO by Yoast, is mad as heck and it's not going to take it anymore! Now is usually the time detractors like to indicate WordPress plugins are only computer programs and do not have human emotions, such as anger. That may be true today, but once the singularity happens and robots become self-aware, they are sure to find out about the "SEO vs. quality content" debate. At this point, they will certainly fly into a blind rage and decimate the planet. As well they should! Side-note: SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization, i.e. the tactics you employ to show up first in a Google search. The Perpetual Pendulum As you can already tell, I'm drawing a firm line in the sand with this post. I know certain people in the marketing world will disagree with me - I'm looking at YOU, Mark Schaefer! But, I care deeply care about this topic. As someone who has achieved great success reaching the top of Google for a number of keywords, I take this ...
Adwords Keyword Tool: How to Shatter Your Fear’s Jaw, Mike Tyson Style
If you work in the oil and gas industry, chances are you've never heard of Google's Adwords Keyword Tool. If anything, the words "internet marketing" immediately strike terror in your heart. Your life flashes before your eyes. All you can see is Josh Fox and a raging mob of oil and gas activists descending on your village with pitch forks and flaming torches. You may have heard a few different definitions of the word "fear" in the past. Here is my favorite: False Evidence Appearing Real. That is precisely the case of the oil and gas industry's fear of going "all-in" with digital marketing. Today, I am going to destroy your fear of internet marketing once and for all. I am going to show you why: The oil and gas industry needs to give its fear of internet marketing the Tyson vs. Spinks treatment. - Click to Tweet Using Google's Keyword Planner To demonstrate how easily any forward-thinking oil and gas operator or service company could conquer the internet, let's dig into ...